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A draft of the proposed NWFP Local Government Act, 2008 was presented before the provincial cabinet in its recent meeting, while it will be shared with the federal government on Sept 28 at a meeting convened by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani for amending the local bodies system, an official told Dawn.
The proposed legislation, a copy of which is available to Dawn, was aimed at clipping the authority and powers, as guaranteed in LGO-2001, of the local governance institutions that was likely to attract criticism and cause uproar by the elected public representatives in days to come.
The provincial government has been given immense powers to supervise the functioning of local bodies, as under the proposed legislation, the provincial government may, after giving him an opportunity of being heard, remove a Nazim, Naib Nazim or a member of a local from the office.
Anybody removed under section (1) of the proposed legislation may, within 30 days of order of removal, file a review petition to government, which will be authorized to pass such orders as it may deem fit.
Under LGO-2001, the provincial government had no authority to remove any elected office bearers in the local bodies, as largely the powers of removing the Nazims rests with the respective local councils.
Renaming all the three existing tiers of the local bodies such as Union Administration, Tehsil Municipal Administration and District Government, the proposed legislation identifies all of them as Local Councils.
The City District Government Peshawar and its Towns will be called as Municipal Corporation, whereas other district governments will be called as district councils as envisaged in the local bodies system of 1979.
Likewise, Tehsil Municipal Administration as Municipal Committees and Union Administration will be renamed as Union Councils.
The rural and urban divide, which was abolished in the LGO-2001, has been restored according to the 1979 local bodies system. This divide was abolished in the LGO-2001 in a bid to bring the rural areas at par with the urban areas, which many consider a wrong decision and partly responsible for creating further regional imbalances in terms of development and service delivery.
The membership of Union Council has been reduced from 13 to seven, as according to the proposed law union councils will be consisting four Muslim members, elected to general seats, including one reserved for women, two members, elected to seat reserved for peasants and workers, including one reserved for women and one member elected to a seat reserved for minority communities.
Similarly, the number of general members of Municipal Corporation Peshawar, District Councils and Municipal Committees will be determined by the provincial government and they will be elected directly on the basis of adult franchise and joint electorate.
The new legislation proposes election to the offices of these institutions on party basis and minimum age for costing vote will be 18 years. Under the proposed legislation, each local council will serve as electoral college for the election of Nazim and Niab Nazim, as there will be no direct elections to these two offices.
Under LGO-2001, minimum academic qualification for the nazims was Secondary School Certificate, but under new law this condition has also been abolished.
Election to the offices of local councils will be conducted by a local council election authority to be appointed by the provincial government instead of Election Commission of Pakistan as envisaged under LGO-2001. The proposed election authority will work under NWFP Local Government and Rural Development Department (LG&RDD).
The functions of district councils, as determined in the proposed legislation are included public works, culture, articles of food and drink, public safety, education, drainage, public health, development, environmental pollution, public ferries, livestock and dairy development and agriculture development and economic welfare.
Similarly, the union councils would perform the civic, regulatory, welfare and development functions under the proposed legislation.
The provincial government will constitute a local council service that will be comprised of the Provincial Unified Group of Functionaries and servants of local councils as per the proposed law. Appointment of whole-time magistrates for trial of offences mentioned in the proposed law was also part of the draft.
There will be a local fund and public account for every local council, as all revenues received by the council will be credited to the respective local fund under the proposed system. The Director Local Fund Audit, a subordinate body of LG&RDD will conduct audit of the local council's funds and accounts, whenever deemed necessary. Under LGO-2001, Auditor General of
With the promulgation of proposed legislation, the provincial government will replace the Provincial Finance Commission, a body which divides resources between province and districts, with a 10-member Grants Committee with Minister Finance, NWFP as its chairman.
Similarly, the Local Government Commission, a regulatory body envisaged under LGO-2001, will be abolished as the provincial government will exercise general supervision and control over the local councils in order to ensure that their activities conform to the provision of the proposed law.
